Construction for radios and the like



Aug. 26, 1969 w, RlCHTER ET AL 3,463,565

CONSTRUCTION FOR RADOS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 4, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1lNVENTORS WILLIAM 0. MONIGESKU RALPH w. RICHTER,

BY W e. 31%

' THEIR ATTORNEY.

Aug. 26, 1969 R. w; RICHTER L CONSTRUCTION FOR RADIOS AND THE LIKE FiledJan 4, 1965 F |G.3

VII IIII'IIIIIIIIIIIII xv v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS INVENTORS WILLIAM 0.MONGESKU, RALPH W. RICHTER BY W THEIR ATTORNEY.v

United States Patent Office 3,463,565 Patented Aug. 26, 1969 3,463,565CONSTRUCTION FOR RADIOS AND THE LIKE Ralph W. Richter, Whitesboro, andWilliam 0. Mongesku,

Utica, N.Y., assignors to General Electric Company,

a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 4, 1965, Ser. No. 423,149 Int. Cl.Hk 5/02; A47b 81/06; H04b 1/08 US. Cl. 3127 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A radio construction wherein the chassis, loudspeaker andclock are secured within the radio cabinet by integral guide members andflexible latching members to completely eliminate the necessity forconventional fastening devices.

This invention relates to constructions for radios and the like, andparticularly relates to an arrangement for assembling a chassis,loudspeaker, clock, or the like, into a cabinet.

The main component parts of a radio, or like devices such as televisionsets, tape recorders, phonographs, etc., are usually assembled into acabinet by means of screws or other fastening devices. Attempts havebeen made to reduce the use of such fasteners in order to reduce thecost of providing and installing them; however, a certain number offasteners has been found necessary to insure adequate and secureattachment of the various parts to the cabinet. An attempt has been madeto substantially eliminate the use of such fasteners by an arrangementwherein one part is arranged to support another part. For example, insuch an arrangement the chassis holds the loudspeaker in place in thecabinet, and the removable back of the cabinet holds the chassis inplace. Such an arrangement however, suffers the drawback that if one ofthe latter parts should become loose, the rest of the parts can becomeloose or fall out of the cabinet.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved construction forradios and the like.

Another object is to provide a low-cost construction for radio and thelike.

A further object is to provide a construction for radios and the like,which eliminates the use of conventional fastening devices.

Still another object is to provide an improved construction for radiosand the like, in which the component parts are securely attached to thecabinet without the use of conventional fastening devices.

Additional objects will be apparent from the following description andclaims, and from the accompanying drawing.

The invention comprises, briefly and in a preferred embodiment, acabinet into which at least one component part is to be held in place,guide members in the cabinet for positioning the part in two dimensions,and a flexible latch member integral with the cabinet and arranged toresiliently engage against the component part in locking engagementtherewith to secure the part in the third dimension, whereby the part isheld to the cabinet in all three dimensions.

Various ways of carrying out the invention will be described in detail.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a radio constructed in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the radio of FIG. 1, with the back of the radiopartly broken away to reveal interior construction,

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken at theline 33 in FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken at thelines 4-4 in FIG. 2,

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. 4, but with a component part ofthe radio partially removed from place, in order to illustrate thefunctioning of the invention,

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken at theline '66 of FIG. 2,.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken at theline 77 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken at theline 88 of FIG. .2,

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken at theline 99 of FIG. 2,.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken atthe line 10-10 of FIIG. 2, and

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the radio, taken atthe line 11--11 of FIG. 2.

Now referring primarily to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing, the radio asillustrated comprises a cabinet 11 preferably made from a plasticmaterial that is somewhat resilient. At the front of the cabinet 11 is atuning dial 12 which actuates a tuning capacitor 13, a volume controlknob 14 which actuates a volume control device 16, and a dial 17 of aclock mechanism 18.

Three major component parts of the radio-a printed circuit board chassis21, a loudspeaker 22, and the clock 18are attached to and held by thecabinet 11 in accordance with the invention.

The printed circuit board chassis 21, which may carry tubes 22, thetuning capacitor 13, and other components, in well-known manner, isaccommodated in the cabinet 11 by means of a pair of mutually parallelguide slots or grooves 26 and 27 formed in ribs 28 and 29 whichpreferably are an integral part of the molded cabinet 11. The parallelguide grooves 26 and 27 are arranged so that the circuit board 21 canslide therein from the rear of the cabinet 11, whereby opposite edges ofthe board 21 lie in the grooves 26 and 27, whereby the chassis 21 isheld in two dimensions, i.e., in the dimension perpendicular to theplane of the chassis board 21 and also in the dimension across the board21 from one guide groove 26 to the other guide groove 27. If desired,slotted ribs may be provided inside the cabinet 11 near the frontthereof to act as a frontward stop for the circuit board 21 and to giveit additional support, as indicated by the slotted rib members 31 and 32in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the guide rib 29 is composed of twoaligned portions, 29a and 29b. Between the rib portion 29a and 29b, alatch member 36 is molded integrally with the cabinet 11, the latchmember 36 preferably being provided by a U-shaped slot as shown in FIG.3. The latch member 38 is attached to the cabinet 11 at the rear end 37of the latch member 36, the other end of the latch member 36 comprisinga laterally projecting portion which tapers substantially to a point 38arranged to fit into a notch 39 in the edge 41 of the circuit board 21which is located in the guide slot 27.

The latch member 36 is arranged to be resiliently mov able substantiallyin the plane coincident with that of the circuit board 21. Thus, whenthe circuit board or chassis 21 is placed in the guide grooves 26 and 27and pushed forwardly, the edge 41 of the board 21 will deflect the latchmember 36, as shown in FIG. 5. The latter is readily achieved, due tothe tapered rear surface 42 of the latch member 36, whereby the edge 41of the circuit board 21 readily deflects the latch member to theposition shown in FIG. 5 until the circuit board 21 is in place,whereupon the tip 38 of the latch member 36 resiliently engages into theslot 39 so as to hold the chassis board 21 in its remaining or thirddimension, whereupon the chassis board 21 now is securely retained tothe cabinet 11 in all three dimensions. The front edge 43 of the latchmember 36 is slightly tapered so as to wedge against the leading edge 44of the slot 39 to prevent any play of the chassis board with respect tothe cabinet 11. The slot edge 44 may also be tapered, as shown, so as tocooperate in the wedging relationship with the front edge 43 of thelatch member 36.

If it should be desired to remove the chassis board 21 from the cabinet11, the latch member 36 is manually deflected to the position shown inFIG. 5, and the chassis board 21 is then slid rearwardly out of theguide slots 26 and 27. The latch member 36 is readily deflected to theposition shown in FIG. 5, either by pressing it downwardly with thefingers from inside the cabinet 11, or by inserting a screwdriver bladeor similar object in the space between the edge 43 of the latch member36 and the adjacent edge 46 of the cabinet and then prying the latchmember 36 downward to the position shown in FIG. 5.

The latch member 36 preferably is provided at the bottom of the cabinet11, as shown, so as to be out of sight in normal use of the radio, andyet to be readily available for deflecting into the position shown inFIG. for removal of the chassis board 21. The latch member 36 may bearranged to be deflected in a direction lying in the plane of thechassis board 21, or in a plane perpendicular thereto, or in someintermediate direction, so long as the tip portion 38 thereof isarranged to engage into the slot 39 in order to secure the chassis board21 as has been described.

The loudspeaker 22 is attached to the cabinet 11 as follows, inaccordance with the invention. A pair of notched ribs 51 and 52, whichare molded integrally with the cabinet 11, are arranged for the upperedge of the loudspeaker 22 to fit in the notches thereof, as shown indetail in FIG. 6, whereupon the lower portion of the loudspeaker 22 ispushed frontwardly whereby one or more openings 53 in the frame of theloudspeaker 22 fit over projections 54 that are molded integrally withthe cabinet 11, as shown in detail in FIG. 10. As the lower portion ofthe loudspeaker 22 is pushed toward the front of the cabinet 11 as thusdescribed, the lower edge 56 of the loudspeaker 22 deflects downwardly apair of latching members 57, 58. With respect to the latch member 58,the latch members are molded integrally with the cabinet 11 and attachedthereto at an end 59 thereof, so the head end 61 of the latch member 58can be deflected downwardly. The upper portion of the head 61 of thelatch member 58 is beveled, as clearly shown in FIG. 8 at numeral 62, sothat as the lower portion 56 of the loudspeaker 22 is pushed frontwardlyin the direction of arrow 63, it will slide across the beveled surface62 and deflect the head 61 of the latch member 58 downwardly in thedirection indicated by the arrow 64. When the loudspeaker 22 is in thedesired position as shown in FIG. 6, the head end 61 of latch member 58will spring upwardly to the position shown in FIG. 8, so as to partiallyoverlap the loudspeaker 22 at the rear surface thereof, therebycompleting the holding in place of the loudspeaker 22 in the thirddimension, the loudspeaker being held in other dimensions by means ofthe ribs 51 and 52, and the posts 54 extending through the opening 53 ofthe loudspeaker 22. The other latch member 57 functions similarly to thelatch member 58 as has been described. The engagement faces 65 of thelatch member 57, 58 may be beveled, if desired, so as to wedge tightlyagainst the loudspeaker when in the position shown in FIG. 8. Theloudspeaker may be additionally held in place, if desired, by means of acurved rib 71 extending rearwardly from the front of the cabinet 11 andshaped to conform to a curved corner of the frame of the loudspeaker 22,as shown in FIG. 9. A further positioning rib 72 may be provided, ifdesired, extending rearwardly from the front of the cabinet 11 adjacentan edge of the loudspeaker 22, as shown in FIG. 7.

The above-described construction for attaching the loudspeaker 22 to thecabinet 11, achieves quick assembly, by placing the upper edge of theloudspeaker 22 under the ribs 51 and 52, then pressing the lower portionof the loudspeaker towards the front of the cabinet 11, whereupon thelatch members 57 and 58, being resilient, deflect until the loudspeakeris against the front of the cabinet, whereupon the latch members 57 and58 automatically swing upwardly and in engagement against the rear ofthe loudspeaker 22 at the bottom thereof, thereby holding it securely inplace in the cabinet 11. To remove the loudspeaker, the latch members 57and 58 are pushed downwardly with the fingers, so as to release thelower edge of the loudspeaker 22 and permit it to be removed from thecabinet 11.

The clock 18 is attached to the cabinet 11 in a manner similar to thatdescribed above for the loudspeaker 22. The base plate 78 of the clock18 has the upper edge thereof inserted upwardly into slotted rib members76, 77 molded integrally with the cabinet 11, and the lower edge of theclock base plate 78 is then pushed frontwardly towards the front of thecabinet 11, whereupon edges of the base plate 78 deflect and pass overlatch members 79 and 80, which are molded integrally with the cabinet11, whereupon these latch members assume the position shown in FIG. 2,tightly behind the base plate 78 so as to hold the clock 18 in place inthe cabinet 11. The clock 18 may be readily removed from the cabinet 11,by deflecting the latch members 79 and 80 with the fingers so as torelease the clock 18 and permit its removal from the cabinet.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the objects of the inventionhave been achieved, whereby the component parts are assembled into acabinet quickly and securely without the use of conventional fasteningdevices, thus saving not only the cost of fastening devices but alsosaving the cost of labor for attaching them. These objects are achievedat substantially no extra cost, due to the provision of the rib membersand resilient movable latch members which are molded integrally as partof the plastic cabinet 11.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed, various other embodiments and modifications thereof will beapparent to those skilled in the art, and will fall within the scope ofinvention.

What we claim is:

1. A construction for radios and the like in which a component part isto be attached to a cabinet, comprising positioning means located insaid cabinet for positioning said parts in two dimensions when the partis placed in a desired position in the cabinet, and a resilient latchmember integral at one end thereof with said cabinet and the other endthereof providing a resiliently movable portion having a transverselyextending latch portion thereon positioned in the path of said componentpart when being placed in said desired position and adapted to engageagainst and hold said component part in a third dimension, saidtransverse latch portion being provided with a tapered surface adaptedto be engaged by said component part for causing deflection of saidlatch member when the component part is being placed in desiredposition, whereby the transverse latch portion resiliently moves toholding engagement with the component part when in desired position.

2. A construction as claimed in claim 1, in which said transverselyextending latch portion of said latch member which engages against saidcomponent part is beveled to provide a wedging engagement of the latchmember against the component part.

3. A construction as claimed in claim 1, in which said latch member isprovided in a wall of said cabinet by means of a U-shaped slot throughsaid cabinet wall.

4. A construction for radios and the like in which a component parthaving a pair of opposite edges is to be attached to a cabinet,comprising means defining a pair of spaced apart grooves in the interiorof said cabinet adapted to receive said edges of the component part whensaid component part is in desired position in the cabinet, a resilientlatch member integral at one end with said cabinet and the other endthereof providing a resiliently movable portion having a transverselyextending latch portion thereon in juxtaposition with a portion of oneof said edges of the component part when in desired position, said latchportion being movable laterally with respect to said one edge, and anotch in said one edge in alignment wtih said latch portion when thecomponent part is in desired position, whereby said latch portionengages said slot and holds said component part in place in said groovesin said cabinet.

5. A construction as claimed in claim 4, in which said latch portion isprovided with a tapered surface in alignment with said one edge of thecomponent part for causing deflection of said latch member when saidcomponent part is being inserted in said grooves.

6. A construction as claimed in claim 4, in which at least one of saidlatch portion and said notch is provided with a beveled edge to providea wedging action of said latch member against said component part.

7. A construction for radios and the like in which a component parthaving a pair of opposite edges is to be attached to a cabinet,comprising means defining a notched rib under which one of said edgescan be placed for partially holding said component part in positionwhereupon the remaining edge of the component part is moved laterallyinto position in said cabinet, and a resilient latch member integral atone end thereof with said cabinet and the other end thereof providing aresiliently movable portion having a transversely extending latchportion thereon positioned to overlie a portion of said component partat said remaining edge thereof so as to hold the component part inposition in said cabinet.

3. A construction as claimed in claim 7, in which said movable latchportion is provided with a tapered surface in alignment with the path ofsaid remaining edge of the component part when being moved intoposition, thereby causing deflection of the latch member when thecomponent part is being placed in position.

9. A construction as claimed in claim 7, in which at least one of saidlatch portion and said component part is provided with a beveled surfaceto provide a wedging action of said latch member against said componentpart.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,692,983 10/1954 Eisenkramer340-367 2,702,116 2/1955 Shnitzler 206-16 2,855,257 10/1958 Barker 312-72,884,283 4/1959 Korol 308-15 2,991,356 7/1961 Harasek 325-353 3,187,9266/1965 Zimmet 220-41 3,215,280 11/ 1965 Morris 248-27 CHANCELLOR E.HARRIS, Primary Examiner US. 01. X.R. 312-333; 325-353

